Rookie Rebellion
by Inks Inc
Summary: Mike knows how to push Harvey's buttons, but usually knows how hard to press. More importantly, he knows when not to press. But even geniuses forget the most basic of things at times. WARNING: Spanking. Completed One-Shot.


Harvey sighed. Shifting backwards on his desk and securing a squirming Mike more firmly across his impromptu knee, he felt every single one of his years. He would rather be doing anything else, but as usual, Mike had forced his hand. It was late and the office was deserted so he had no qualms about anyone walking past and seeing the unusual sight, not that he would care. But he knew Mike would throw the most monumental of fits and he desperately needed a rain check on _that_ particular migraine. The sounds of his hand crashing against the upturned behind over his knee were sharp and drew a wince from even him as Mike squawked in painful indignation. He had warned and warned the kid to rein in his attitude, but he'd chosen to invest more and more in his petulance than in reverting back to his usual, brilliant self. Harvey had swallowed hours and hours of his snarky comments, wilful insubordination and downright ill mannered sulking before snapping.

Crashing his hand down smartly, he suddenly removed his hand from the slim waist.

"Up. Pants down. Now."

Mike slowly got to his feet, his face flush with embarrassment and ire. His eyes were dry, but by the time Harvey was finished with him, they would be red rimmed and damp. "This is ridiculous," Mike said quietly, his scathing attitude already a mere fraction of what it had been. "I said I was sorry. I'm just tired; we've been working on this case all day, every day for weeks. I'll watch my mouth, ok? You don't need to go any further…I get it." Harvey shook his head. "No, you don't. But you are about to get it, and that starts with you doing as you're damn well told. Get those pants down now or I will do it for you and you know full well what's going to happen if I have to do it for you. Or have you forgotten how much my belt across your ass hurts? Because I have no problem reminding you, none at all. But bear in mind that when I'm through with you, your ass is gonna be in that chair for at least another two hours."

Mike glared.

"I hate you, you know that?"

Harvey rolled his eyes.

"Yes. You've mentioned it many times. Now, get them _down."_

He looked tactfully away as Mike pouted forcibly before angrily unzipping his pants and allowing them to fall to his knees. Still looking away but knowing exactly what his protégé was thinking, Harvey shook his head. "Mike, your shorts aren't in need of a lesson in proper demeanour. You are. I want that ass bared, now. You know what you've got coming, don't make it any harder for either of us." He very magnanimously pretended not to hear the vicious string of expletives that erupted from the rookie as he did as was bid. Still not looking, Harvey reached out and easily placed Mike back over his knee, lifting his shirt tails out of the way. The now bared behind was a dusky pink and Harvey didn't relish the task of turning it cherry red, but he would. And they both knew it.

As he tightened his arm around the thin waist again, he delayed not. Mike hissed as he stared into the stacks of paperwork that littered Harvey's desk, his elbows pressed into some file or other. It was bad enough when Harvey sat down in an actual chair to haul him across his knee, but when he held him captive over his knee whilst sitting on his desk…his feet couldn't touch the ground and the whole situation became a hell of a lot more embarrassing as he dangled over his bosses knee. A splutter of pain couldn't be suppressed as Harvey showed him no mercy. His skin sizzled as the broad hand clattered upon it, alternating from cheek to cheek and sit spot to sit spot. Squirming was useless, Harvey merely repositioned him and held firmer still, completely ignoring his stammered and heartfelt apologies.

Mike's behind was now a deep red, bearing a myriad of fresh, broad handprints.

"How old are you, Mike?"

As Harvey suddenly spoke, he reached back to grab an all too familiar and far too thick ruler. His eyes having long since began to water before morphing into tears had Mike blinking through the waterworks in horror. The pain in his ass from Harvey's hand alone was breathtaking and he knew exactly what was coming next, but he'd been hoping against hope that Harvey would let it slide. He tended to cop the ruler when he did things that threatened to expose him. If he was going to get it now, then the older lawyer was well and truly fed up with his lip. He regretted said lip more than he could express as he lay there in a stinging state of pain. Harvey had warned and warned him, showed more patience than was characteristic for him but he'd had to keep pushing because he was tired and in a ratty ass mood. Now he was still tired, in a worse than ratty ass mood and had a sore ass to show for it.

"Harvey…please…I'm sorry, you don't need to-"

Three firm swats crashed down on each cheek and thoroughly cut him off. Mike hollered in pain. "Answer me. For your good Michael, you better answer me." Full name time. It was full name territory. Mike blinked red rimmed eyes and admitted miserable defeat. Dropping his head into his arms, he groaned in misery. "Twenty six." Harvey nodded, feeling an annoying drenching of sorrow for the kid as he shifted his knee upwards, exposing the well reddened sit spots. "Then you know what you've got coming. Hold tight and let's get this over and done with."

The room sung with the sounds of twenty six sharp licks of the thick ruler against Mike's sit spots.

Thirteen per upper thigh.

Harvey's heart, not that he'd admit to owning one, broke as Mike's sobbing sailed into his eardrums. "Alright bud, alright," he said quietly, throwing the ruler down and rubbing the small of the kid's back soothingly. "It's done, you did great, we're all done." He winced as he glanced down at the behind in his lap. It was a shocking shade of red but if he was honest, Mike had been working up to a tanning for about two weeks. It had just come to a head tonight. Every so often, the kid's intellect threw him over the line of his current position and he had to be brought back into line. But it took a little of Harvey's soul every single damned time.

He spoke quiet and soothing words of forgiveness and comfort as he ruffled the kid's hair gently and waited out the crying which was already at a sniffling stage. He quickly reached down and fixed up Mike's clothing as the rookie began to suddenly right himself. Standing with him, he didn't speak, pulling the kid into his chest for a firm hug. He had never been a hugger before his infuriating protégé had burst into his life, but now it was like an uncontrollable instinct when he saw the sad, red eyes and the deflated stature. Mike snuffled into his chest, effectively chastened and deflated back to size. Releasing him after a minute, Harvey smiled one of his rare gentle smiles.

"You learn your lesson?"

Mike nodded sheepishly.

"M'sorry. It won't happen again."

Harvey snorted. "Sure thing kid, I believe you." Mike looked at him in affront for a moment before seeing the teasing glint in his eyes and shrugged with a trance of devilishness. "I have an eidetic memory, not an eidetic moral compass." Harvey rolled his eyes, reaching out and ruffling the kid's hair as he passed to throw himself back behind his desk. "Don't worry, I don't have a moral compass either but I _do_ have the common sense not to keep pushing and pushing when I'm on thin ice. You learn that, and you will find yourself sitting a lot better in years to come." Mike nodded, his docile nature a passing fad, as both knew. It would fade as the sting in his tail faded.

"Do you want me to go back to researching those bylaws now then?" Harvey shook his head and pointed to the comfortable sofa in the corner of the office. "Not right now. You're going to take a nap for an hour and then you can go back to the bylaws." Mike managed the self righteousness to glare. "A _nap?_ Harvey, I'm not twelve. I don't need a _nap."_ Looking up from the paperwork that was already making his eyes itch, the elder of the two quirked a brow. "I just pained your ass red for being truculent. Do I really need to go back and add another layer?"

Mike gawped. But the pain still tearing through his behind was a very efficient teacher and other than a puff of frustration, he stomped over to the couch and gingerly lay down upon it. "No one says _truculent_ anymore by the way," he griped, before closing his eyes and feeling utterly ridiculous in doing so. Flicking through a thick report, Harvey shrugged. "Yeah well, I do. And I only care about me so…" Something confusing in the report cut him off and he frowned in concentration. "Mike, before you go to sleep…what do you think of…." He trailed off. The kid was fast asleep, small snores emanating from him as his chest rose and fell. Feeling a ridiculous stirring of protectiveness in him, Harvey rose and shrugged out of his expensive suit jacket. Reaching the slumbering kid, he placed it gently over him, careful not to wake him up. As he dropped behind his desk once more, he felt impossibly old and stricken by a sudden realisation. He was sure of two things. One, Mike Ross was one of the most aggravating, testing and downright exhausting people he had ever met in his entire life.

Two, he was worth every single aggravating, testing and exhausting second.

….

A/N: Random One-Shot

….


End file.
